Adamantium, for those not versed in Marvel lore, is the fictional metal implanted into the skeleton of Wolverine. It’s often called the hardest metal known to humankind, and its indestructibility is why Wolverine’s claws never get dull. However, because Adamantium finds its origins in X-Men lore, the Marvel Cinematic Universe wasn’t legally allowed to use it as a plot element in its stories back when the X-Men were still under the license of Fox (whereas the MCU is owned by Disney). Instead of Adamantium, then, the MCU leaned heavily on an equally magical substance called Vibranium, a metal with ineffable and powerful properties. In the “Black Panther” movies, the fictional country of Wakanda was said to have advanced to futuristic levels thanks to a Vibranium deposit. Even Captain America’s shield is made of the substance.
When Disney purchased Fox in 2017, it finally granted the MCU access to X-Men characters and terminology. The franchise has already hinted at the inclusion of the X-Men on several occasions. Evan Peters, who played Quicksilver in Fox’s “X-Men” films, had a winking cameo in the MCU series “WandaVision,” while the X-Men’s longtime leader, Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart), was mercilessly killed in “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.” (It’s okay, he was a parallel universe duplicate.) Then, at the end of “The Marvels,” Beast (Kelsey Grammar) appeared, noting that an MCU character had slipped into his dimension by accident.
The X-Men dam will finally burst with the release of “Deadpool & Wolverine” in July 2024. Wolverine will officially become part of the MCU, along with his Adamantium skeleton, and the MCU can now make as many references to the fictional metal as it likes.
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